Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Performing a standard RHEL installation

Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 using the graphical user interface

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Performing a standard RHEL installation

Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 using the graphical user interface

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Abstract

This document is for users who want to perform a standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 installation using the graphical user interface.

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MAKING OPEN SOURCE MORE INCLUSIVE

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web

properties. We are beginning with these four terms: master, slave, blacklist, and whitelist. Because of the enormity of this endeavor, these changes will be implemented gradually over several upcoming releases.

For more details, see our CTO Chris Wright’s message.

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PROVIDING FEEDBACK ON RED HAT DOCUMENTATION

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PART I. PREPARING FOR YOUR RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX INSTALLATION

This section describes how to prepare for your Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation.

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CHAPTER 1. SUPPORTED RHEL ARCHITECTURES AND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 delivers a stable, secure, consistent foundation across hybrid cloud

deployments with the tools needed to deliver workloads faster with less effort. It can be deployed as a guest on supported hypervisors and Cloud provider environments as well as deployed on physical infrastructure, so your applications can take advantage of innovations in the leading hardware architecture platforms.

This section contains information about the supported architectures and the system requirements for installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

1.1. SUPPORTED ARCHITECTURES

Red Hat Enterprise Linux supports the following architectures:

AMD, Intel, and ARM 64-bit architectures IBM Power Systems, Little Endian

IBM Power System LC servers IBM Power System AC servers IBM Power System L servers IBM Z

Additional resources

Installing RHEL on AMD64, Intel 64, and 64-bit ARM Installing RHEL on IBM Power System LC servers Installing RHEL on IBM Power System AC servers Installing RHEL on IBM Power System L servers Installing RHEL on IBM Z

1.2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

If this is a first-time installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux it is recommended that you review the guidelines provided for system, hardware, security, memory, and RAID before installing. See System requirements reference for more information.

Additional resources Security hardening

Composing a customized RHEL system image

CHAPTER 1. SUPPORTED RHEL ARCHITECTURES AND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

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CHAPTER 2. RHEL INSTALLATION METHODS

You can install Red Hat Enterprise Linux using any of the following methods:

GUI-based installations

System or cloud image-based installations Advanced installations

NOTE

This document provides details about installing RHEL using the user interfaces (GUI).

GUI-based installations

The following GUI-based installation methods are available:

Install RHEL using an ISO image from the Customer Portal: Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux by downloading the DVD ISO image file from the Customer Portal. Registration is performed after the GUI installation completes. This installation method is also supported by Kickstart.

Register and install RHEL from the Content Delivery Network: Register your system, attach subscriptions, and install Red Hat Enterprise Linux from the Content Delivery Network (CDN).

This installation method is supported by the Boot ISO and DVD ISO image files; however, it is recommended that you use the Boot ISO image file as the installation source defaults to CDN for the Boot ISO image file. Registration is performed before the installation packages are downloaded and installed from the CDN. This installation method is also supported by Kickstart.

IMPORTANT

You can customize the RHEL installation for your specific requirements using the GUI. You can select additional options for specific environment requirements, for example, Connect to Red Hat, software selection, partitioning, security, and many more. For more information, see Customizing your installation.

System or cloud image-based installations

You can use system or cloud image-based installation methods only in virtual and cloud environments.

To perform a system or cloud image-based installation, use Red Hat Image Builder. Image Builder creates customized system images of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including the system images for cloud deployment.

For more information about installing RHEL using Image Builder, see the Composing a customized RHEL system image document.

Advanced installations

The following advanced installation methods are available:

Perform an automated RHEL installation using Kickstart: Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux using Kickstart. Kickstart is an automated installation that allows you to execute unattended operating system installation tasks.

Perform a remote RHEL installation using VNC: The RHEL installation program offers two

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Perform a remote RHEL installation using VNC: The RHEL installation program offers two VNC installation modes: Direct and Connect. Once a connection is established, the two modes do not differ. The mode you select depends on your environment.

Install RHEL from the network using PXE : A network installation allows you to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux to a system that has access to an installation server. At a minimum, two systems are required for a network installation.

For more information about the advanced installation methods, see the Performing an advanced RHEL installation document.

CHAPTER 2. RHEL INSTALLATION METHODS

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CHAPTER 3. DOWNLOADING A RHEL INSTALLATION ISO IMAGE

This section contains instructions about downloading a Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation image from the Red Hat Customer Portal or by using the curl command.

3.1. TYPES OF INSTALLATION ISO IMAGES

Two types of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 installation ISO images are available from the Red Hat Customer Portal.

DVD ISO image file

A full installation program that contains the BaseOS and AppStream repositories and allows you to complete the installation without additional repositories.

IMPORTANT

You can use a Binary DVD for IBM Z to boot the installation program using a SCSI DVD drive, or as an installation source.

Boot ISO image file

The Boot ISO image is a minimal installation that can be used to install RHEL in two different ways:

a. When registering and installing RHEL from the Content Delivery Network (CDN).

b. As a minimal image that requires access to the BaseOS and AppStream repositories to install software packages. The repositories are part of the DVD ISO image that is available for download from the Red Hat Customer Portal. Download and unpack the DVD ISO image to access the repositories.

The following table contains information about the images that are available for the supported architectures.

Table 3.1. Boot and installation images

Architecture Installation DVD Boot DVD

AMD64 and Intel 64 x86_64 DVD ISO image file x86_64 Boot ISO image file

ARM 64 AArch64 DVD ISO image file AArch64 Boot ISO image file

IBM POWER ppc64le DVD ISO image file ppc64le Boot ISO image file

IBM Z s390x DVD ISO image file s390x Boot ISO image file

Preparing an installation source

Installing, managing, and removing user-space components

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3.2. DOWNLOADING AN ISO IMAGE FROM THE CUSTOMER PORTAL

This procedure describes how to download a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 ISO image file from the Red Hat Customer Portal.

NOTE

The Boot ISO image is a minimal image file that supports registering your system, attaching subscriptions, and installing RHEL from the Content Delivery Network (CDN).

The DVD ISO image file contains all repositories and software packages and does not require any additional configuration. See Preparing an installation source for more information.

Prerequisites

You have an active Red Hat subscription.

You are logged in to the Product Downloads section of the Red Hat Customer Portal at Product Downloads.

Procedure

1. From the Product Downloads page, select the By Category tab.

2. Click the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 link.

The Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux web page opens.

3. From the Product Variant drop-down menu, select the variant that you require.

a. Optional: Select the Packages tab to view the packages contained in the selected variant.

For information on the packages available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, see the Package Manifest document.

4. The Version drop-down menu defaults to the latest version for the selected variant.

5. The Architecture drop-down menu displays the supported architecture.

The Product Software tab displays the image files, which include:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Binary DVD image.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Boot ISO image.

Additional images may be available, for example, preconfigured virtual machine images, but they are beyond the scope of this document.

6. Click Download Now beside the ISO image that you require.

3.3. DOWNLOADING AN ISO IMAGE USING CURL

This section explains how to download installation images using the curl command.

CHAPTER 3. DOWNLOADING A RHEL INSTALLATION ISO IMAGE

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Install curl and jq package:

If your distribution uses the yum package manager:

# yum install curl

# yum install jq

If your distribution uses the dnf package manager:

# dnf install curl

# dnf install jq

If your distribution uses the apt package manager:

# apt update

# apt install curl

# apt install jq

If your Linux distribution does not use yum, dnf, or apt, or if you do not use Linux, download the most appropriate software package from the curl website

Offline generated token from Red Hat API Tokens

Checksum of the file you want to download from Product Downloads

Procedure

1. Create a bash file with the following content:

#!/bin/bash

# set the offline token and checksum parameters offline_token="<offline_token>"

checksum=<checksum>

# get an access token

access_token=$(curl https://sso.redhat.com/auth/realms/redhat-external/protocol/openid- connect/token -d grant_type=refresh_token -d client_id=rhsm-api -d

refresh_token=$offline_token | jq -r '.access_token')

# get the filename and download url

image=$(curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $access_token"

"https://api.access.redhat.com/management/v1/images/$checksum/download") filename=$(echo $image | jq -r .body.filename)

url=$(echo $image | jq -r .body.href)

# download the file curl $url -o $filename

In this text above, replace the offline_token with the token collected from the Red Hat API portal and checksum value taken from the Product Downloads page.

2. Make this file executable.

$ chmod u+x FILEPATH/FILENAME.sh

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3. Open a terminal window and execute the bash file.

$ ./FILEPATH/FILENAME.sh

WARNING

Use password management that is consistent with networking best practices.

Do not store passwords or credentials in a plain text.

Keep the token safe against unauthorized use.

Refer to Getting started with Red Hat APIs for additional information about APIs and their usages.

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CHAPTER 3. DOWNLOADING A RHEL INSTALLATION ISO IMAGE

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CHAPTER 4. CREATING A BOOTABLE INSTALLATION MEDIUM FOR RHEL

This section contains information about using the ISO image file that you downloaded in Downloading the installation ISO image to create a bootable physical installation medium, such as a USB, DVD, or CD.

NOTE

By default, the inst.stage2= boot option is used on the installation medium and is set to a specific label, for example, inst.stage2=hd:LABEL=RHEL8\x86_64. If you modify the default label of the file system containing the runtime image, or if you use a customized procedure to boot the installation system, you must verify that the label is set to the correct value.

4.1. INSTALLATION BOOT MEDIA OPTIONS

There are several options available to boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program.

Full installation DVD or USB flash drive

Create a full installation DVD or USB flash drive using the DVD ISO image. The DVD or USB flash drive can be used as a boot device and as an installation source for installing software packages. Due to the size of the DVD ISO image, a DVD or USB flash drive are the recommended media types.

Minimal installation DVD, CD, or USB flash drive

Create a minimal installation CD, DVD, or USB flash drive using the Boot ISO image, which contains only the minimum files necessary to boot the system and start the installation program.

IMPORTANT

If you are not using the Content Delivery Network (CDN) to download the required software packages, the Boot ISO image requires an installation source that contains the required software packages.

PXE Server

A preboot execution environment (PXE) server allows the installation program to boot over the network. After a system boot, you must complete the installation from a different installation source, such as a local hard drive or a network location.

Image Builder

Image Builder allows to create customized system and cloud images to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux in virtual and cloud environment.

Performing an advanced RHEL installation Composing a customized RHEL system image

4.2. CREATING A BOOTABLE DVD OR CD

You can create a bootable installation DVD or CD using burning software and a CD/DVD burner. The exact steps to produce a DVD or CD from an ISO image file vary greatly, depending on the operating system and disc burning software installed. Consult your system’s burning software documentation for

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the exact steps to burn a CD or DVD from an ISO image file.

WARNING

You can create a bootable DVD or CD using either the DVD ISO image (full install) or the Boot ISO image (minimal install). However, the DVD ISO image is larger than 4.7 GB, and as a result, it might not fit on a single or dual-layer DVD. Check the size of the DVD ISO image file before you proceed. A USB key is recommended when using the DVD ISO image to create bootable installation media.

4.3. CREATING A BOOTABLE USB DEVICE ON LINUX

Follow this procedure to create a bootable USB device on a Linux system.

NOTE

This procedure is destructive and data on the USB flash drive is destroyed without a warning.

Prerequisites

You have downloaded an installation ISO image as described in Downloading the installation ISO image.

The DVD ISO image is larger than 4.7 GB, so a USB flash drive that is large enough to hold the ISO image is required.

Procedure

1. Connect the USB flash drive to the system.

2. Open a terminal window and run the dmesg command:

$ dmesg|tail

The dmesg command returns a log that details all recent events. Messages resulting from the attached USB flash drive are displayed at the bottom of the log. Record the name of the connected device.

3. Switch to user root:

$ su -

4. Enter your root password when prompted.

5. Find the device node assigned to the drive. In this example, the drive name is sdd.

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CHAPTER 4. CREATING A BOOTABLE INSTALLATION MEDIUM FOR RHEL

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[288954.686559] usb 2-1.8: Product: USB Storage

[288954.686562] usb 2-1.8: SerialNumber: 000000009225

[288954.712590] usb-storage 2-1.8:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected [288954.712687] scsi host6: usb-storage 2-1.8:1.0

[288954.712809] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage [288954.716682] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas

[288955.717140] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic STORAGE DEVICE 9228 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0

[288955.717745] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0 [288961.876382] sd 6:0:0:0: sdd Attached SCSI removable disk 6. Run the dd command to write the ISO image directly to the USB device.

# dd if=/image_directory/image.iso of=/dev/device

Replace /image_directory/image.iso with the full path to the ISO image file that you downloaded, and replace device with the device name that you retrieved with the dmesg command. In this example, the full path to the ISO image is /home/testuser/Downloads/rhel-8- x86_64-boot.iso, and the device name is sdd:

# dd if=/home/testuser/Downloads/rhel-8-x86_64-boot.iso of=/dev/sdd

NOTE

Ensure that you use the correct device name, and not the name of a partition on the device. Partition names are usually device names with a numerical suffix. For example, sdd is a device name, and sdd1 is the name of a partition on the device sdd.

7. Wait for the dd command to finish writing the image to the device. The data transfer is complete when the # prompt appears. When the prompt is displayed, log out of the root account and unplug the USB drive. The USB drive is now ready to be used as a boot device.

4.4. CREATING A BOOTABLE USB DEVICE ON WINDOWS

Follow the steps in this procedure to create a bootable USB device on a Windows system. The

procedure varies depending on the tool. Red Hat recommends using Fedora Media Writer, available for download at https://github.com/FedoraQt/MediaWriter/releases.

NOTE

Fedora Media Writer is a community product and is not supported by Red Hat.

You can report any issues with the tool at

https://github.com/FedoraQt/MediaWriter/issues.

Prerequisites

The DVD ISO image is larger than 4.7 GB, so a USB flash drive that is large enough to hold the

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Procedure

1. Download and install Fedora Media Writer from https://github.com/FedoraQt/MediaWriter/releases.

NOTE

To install Fedora Media Writer on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, use the pre-built Flatpak package. You can obtain the package from the official Flatpak repository Flathub.org at https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.fedoraproject.MediaWriter.

3. Open Fedora Media Writer.

4. From the main window, click Custom Image and select the previously downloaded Red Hat Enterprise Linux ISO image.

5. From Write Custom Image window, select the drive that you want to use.

6. Click Write to disk. The boot media creation process starts. Do not unplug the drive until the operation completes. The operation may take several minutes, depending on the size of the ISO image, and the write speed of the USB drive.

7. When the operation completes, unmount the USB drive. The USB drive is now ready to be used as a boot device.

4.5. CREATING A BOOTABLE USB DEVICE ON MAC OS X

Follow the steps in this procedure to create a bootable USB device on a Mac OS X system.

NOTE

Prerequisites

Procedure

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the following example, the USB device is disk2:

$ diskutil list /dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER 0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.3 GB disk0 1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1 2: Apple_CoreStorage 400.0 GB disk0s2 3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3 4: Apple_CoreStorage 98.8 GB disk0s4 5: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s5 /dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER 0: Apple_HFS YosemiteHD *399.6 GB disk1 Logical Volume on disk0s1

8A142795-8036-48DF-9FC5-84506DFBB7B2 Unlocked Encrypted

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER 0: FDisk_partition_scheme *8.1 GB disk2

1: Windows_NTFS SanDisk USB 8.1 GB disk2s1

3. To identify your USB flash drive, compare the NAME, TYPE and SIZE columns to your flash drive. For example, the NAME should be the title of the flash drive icon in the Finder tool. You can also compare these values to those in the information panel of the flash drive.

4. Use the diskutil unmountDisk command to unmount the flash drive’s filesystem volumes:

$ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disknumber

Unmount of all volumes on disknumber was successful

When the command completes, the icon for the flash drive disappears from your desktop. If the icon does not disappear, you may have selected the wrong disk. Attempting to unmount the system disk accidentally returns a failed to unmount error.

5. Log in as root:

$ su -

6. Enter your root password when prompted.

7. Use the dd command as a parameter of the sudo command to write the ISO image to the flash drive:

# sudo dd if=/path/to/image.iso of=/dev/rdisknumber

NOTE

Mac OS X provides both a block (/dev/disk*) and character device (/dev/rdisk*) file for each storage device. Writing an image to the /dev/rdisknumber character device is faster than writing to the /dev/disknumber block device.

8. To write the /Users/user_name/Downloads/rhel-8-x86_64-boot.iso file to the /dev/rdisk2 device, run the following command:

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# sudo dd if=/Users/user_name/Downloads/rhel-8-x86_64-boot.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 9. Wait for the dd command to finish writing the image to the device. The data transfer is

complete when the # prompt appears. When the prompt is displayed, log out of the root account and unplug the USB drive. The USB drive is now ready to be used as a boot device.

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CHAPTER 5. PREPARING AN INSTALLATION SOURCE

The Boot ISO image file does not include any repositories or software packages; it contains only the installation program and the tools required to boot the system and start the installation. This section contains information about creating an installation source for the Boot ISO image using the DVD ISO image that contains the required repositories and software packages.

IMPORTANT

An installation source is required for the Boot ISO image file only if you decide not to register and install RHEL from the Content Delivery Network (CDN).

5.1. TYPES OF INSTALLATION SOURCE

You can use one of the following installation sources for minimal boot images:

DVD: Burn the DVD ISO image to a DVD. The DVD will be automatically used as the installation source (software package source).

Hard drive or USB drive: Copy the DVD ISO image to the drive and configure the installation program to install the software packages from the drive. If you use a USB drive, verify that it is connected to the system before the installation begins. The installation program cannot detect media after the installation begins.

Hard drive limitation: The DVD ISO image on the hard drive must be on a partition with a file system that the installation program can mount. The supported file systems are xfs, ext2, ext3, ext4, and vfat (FAT32).

WARNING

On Microsoft Windows systems, the default file system used when formatting hard drives is NTFS. The exFAT file system is also available.

However, neither of these file systems can be mounted during the

installation. If you are creating a hard drive or a USB drive as an installation source on Microsoft Windows, verify that you formatted the drive as FAT32.

Note that the FAT32 file system cannot store files larger than 4 GiB.

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, you can enable installation from a directory on a local hard drive. To do so, you need to copy the contents of the DVD ISO image to a directory on a hard drive and then specify the directory as the installation source instead of the ISO image. For example:

inst.repo=hd:<device>:<path to the directory>

Network location: Copy the DVD ISO image or the installation tree (extracted contents of the DVD ISO image) to a network location and perform the installation over the network using the following protocols:

NFS: The DVD ISO image is in a Network File System (NFS) share.

HTTPS, HTTP or FTP: The installation tree is on a network location that is accessible over

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HTTPS, HTTP or FTP: The installation tree is on a network location that is accessible over HTTP, HTTPS or FTP.

5.2. SPECIFY THE INSTALLATION SOURCE

You can specify the installation source using any of the following methods:

User interface: Select the installation source in the Installation Source window of the graphical installation. See Configuring installation source for more information.

Boot option: Configure a custom boot option to specify the installation source. See Boot options reference for more information.

Kickstart file: Use the install command in a Kickstart file to specify the installation source. See the Performing an advanced RHEL installation document for more information.

5.3. PORTS FOR NETWORK-BASED INSTALLATION

The following table lists the ports that must be open on the server providing the files for each type of network-based installation.

Table 5.1. Ports for network-based installation

Protocol used Ports to open

HTTP 80

HTTPS 443

FTP 21

NFS 2049, 111, 20048

TFTP 69

Additional resources Securing networks

5.4. CREATING AN INSTALLATION SOURCE ON AN NFS SERVER

Follow the steps in this procedure to place the installation source on an NFS server. Use this installation method to install multiple systems from a single source, without having to connect to physical media.

Prerequisites

You have administor level access to a server with Red Hat Enterprise Linux8, and this server is on the same network as the system to be installed.

CHAPTER 5. PREPARING AN INSTALLATION SOURCE

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You have created a bootable CD, DVD, or USB device from the image file. See Creating a bootable DVD or CD for more information.

You have verified that your firewall allows the system you are installing to access the remote installation source. See Ports for network-based installation for more information.

Procedure

1. Install the nfs-utils package:

# yum install nfs-utils

2. Copy the DVD ISO image to a directory on the NFS server.

3. Open the /etc/exports file using a text editor and add a line with the following syntax:

/exported_directory/ clients

4. Replace /exported_directory/ with the full path to the directory with the ISO image. Replace clients with the host name or IP address of the target system, the subnetwork that all target systems can use to access the ISO image, or the asterisk sign (*) if you want to allow any system with network access to the NFS server to use the ISO image. See the exports(5) man page for detailed information about the format of this field.

A basic configuration that makes the /rhel8-install/ directory available as read-only to all clients is:

/rhel8-install *

5. Save the /etc/exports file and exit the text editor.

6. Start the nfs service:

# systemctl start nfs-server.service

If the service was running before you changed the /etc/exports file, run the following command for the running NFS server to reload its configuration:

# systemctl reload nfs-server.service

The ISO image is now accessible over NFS and ready to be used as an installation source.

NOTE

When configuring the installation source, use nfs: as the protocol, the server host name or IP address, the colon sign (:), and the directory holding the ISO image. For example, if the server host name is myserver.example.com and you have saved the ISO image in /rhel8-install/, specify nfs:myserver.example.com:/rhel8-install/ as the installation source.

5.5. CREATING AN INSTALLATION SOURCE USING HTTP OR HTTPS

Follow the steps in this procedure to create an installation source for a network-based installation using

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Follow the steps in this procedure to create an installation source for a network-based installation using an installation tree, which is a directory containing extracted contents of the DVD ISO image and a valid .treeinfo file. The installation source is accessed over HTTP or HTTPS.

Prerequisites

You have administrator level access to a server with Red Hat Enterprise Linux8, and this server is on the same network as the system to be installed.

You have downloaded a DVD ISO image. See Downloading the installation ISO image for more information.

Procedure

1. To create an installation source using http, install the httpd package:

# yum install httpd

To create an installation source using https, install httpd and mod_ssl packages:

# yum install httpd mod_ssl

WARNING

If your Apache web server configuration enables SSL security, verify that you enable only the TLSv1 protocol, and disable SSLv2 and SSLv3. This is due to the POODLE SSL vulnerability (CVE-2014-3566). See

https://access.redhat.com/solutions/1232413 for details.

IMPORTANT

If you use an HTTPS server with a self-signed certificate, you must boot the installation program with the noverifyssl option.

2. Copy the DVD ISO image to the HTTP(S) server.

3. Mount the DVD ISO image, using the mount command, to a suitable directory:

# mkdir /mnt/rhel8-install/

# mount -o loop,ro -t iso9660 /image_directory/image.iso /mnt/rhel8-install/

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4. Copy the files from the mounted image to the HTTP(S) server root. This command creates the /var/www/html/rhel8-install/ directory with the contents of the image.

# cp -r /mnt/rhel8-install/ /var/www/html/

This command creates the /var/www/html/rhel8-install/ directory with the content of the image. Note that some copying methods can skip the .treeinfo file which is required for a valid installation source. Running the cp command for whole directories as shown in this procedure will copy .treeinfo correctly.

5. Start the httpd service:

# systemctl start httpd.service

The installation tree is now accessible and ready to be used as the installation source.

NOTE

When configuring the installation source, use http:// or https:// as the protocol, the server host name or IP address, and the directory that contains the files from the ISO image, relative to the HTTP server root. For example, if you are using HTTP, the server host name is myserver.example.com, and you have copied the files from the image to /var/www/html/rhel8-install/, specify

http://myserver.example.com/rhel8-install/ as the installation source.

Deploying different types of servers

5.6. CREATING AN INSTALLATION SOURCE USING FTP

Follow the steps in this procedure to create an installation source for a network-based installation using an installation tree, which is a directory containing extracted contents of the DVD ISO image and a valid .treeinfo file. The installation source is accessed over FTP.

Prerequisites

You have administor level access to a server with Red Hat Enterprise Linux8, and this server is on the same network as the system to be installed.

You have downloaded a DVD ISO image. See Downloading the installation ISO image for more information.

Procedure

1. Install the vsftpd package by running the following command as root:

# yum install vsftpd

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2. Open and edit the /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf configuration file in a text editor.

a. Change the line anonymous_enable=NO to anonymous_enable=YES b. Change the line write_enable=YES to write_enable=NO.

c. Add lines pasv_min_port=min_port and pasv_max_port=max_port. Replace min_port and max_port with the port number range used by FTP server in passive mode, e. g. 10021 and 10031.

This step can be necessary in network environments featuring various firewall/NAT setups.

d. Optionally, add custom changes to your configuration. For available options, see the vsftpd.conf(5) man page. This procedure assumes that default options are used.

WARNING

If you configured SSL/TLS security in your vsftpd.conf file, ensure that you enable only the TLSv1 protocol, and disable SSLv2 and SSLv3. This is due to the POODLE SSL vulnerability (CVE-2014-3566). See

https://access.redhat.com/solutions/1234773 for details.

3. Configure the server firewall.

a. Enable the firewall:

# systemctl enable firewalld

# systemctl start firewalld

b. Enable in your firewall the FTP port and port range from previous step:

# firewall-cmd --add-port min_port-max_port/tcp --permanent

# firewall-cmd --add-service ftp --permanent

# firewall-cmd --reload

Replace min_port-max_port with the port numbers you entered into the /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf configuration file.

4. Copy the DVD ISO image to the FTP server.

5. Mount the DVD ISO image, using the mount command, to a suitable directory:

# mkdir /mnt/rhel8-install

# mount -o loop,ro -t iso9660 /image-directory/image.iso /mnt/rhel8-install Replace /image-directory/image.iso with the path to the DVD ISO image.

6. Copy the files from the mounted image to the FTP server root:



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This command creates the /var/ftp/rhel8-install/ directory with the content of the image. Note that some copying methods can skip the .treeinfo file which is required for a valid installation source. Running the cp command for whole directories as shown in this procedure will copy .treeinfo correctly.

7. Make sure that the correct SELinux context and access mode is set on the copied content:

# restorecon -r /var/ftp/rhel8-install

# find /var/ftp/rhel8-install -type f -exec chmod 444 {} \;

# find /var/ftp/rhel8-install -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

8. Start the vsftpd service:

# systemctl start vsftpd.service

If the service was running before you changed the /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf file, restart the service to load the edited file:

# systemctl restart vsftpd.service

Enable the vsftpd service to start during the boot process:

# systemctl enable vsftpd

The installation tree is now accessible and ready to be used as the installation source.

NOTE

When configuring the installation source, use ftp:// as the protocol, the server host name or IP address, and the directory in which you have stored the files from the ISO image, relative to the FTP server root. For example, if the server host name is myserver.example.com and you have copied the files from the image to /var/ftp/rhel8-install/, specify ftp://myserver.example.com/rhel8-install/ as the installation source.

5.7. PREPARING A HARD DRIVE AS AN INSTALLATION SOURCE

This module describes how to install RHEL using a hard drive as an installation source with ext2, ext3, ext4, or XFS file systems. You can use this method for the systems without network access and the optical drive. Hard drive installations use an ISO image of the installation DVD. An ISO image is a file that contains an exact copy of the content of a DVD. With this file present on a hard drive, you can choose Hard drive as the installation source when you boot the installation program.

To check the file system of a hard drive partition on a Windows operating system, use the Disk Management tool.

To check the file system of a hard drive partition on a Linux operating system, use the parted tool.

NOTE

You cannot use ISO files on LVM (Logical Volume Management) partitions.

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Procedure

1. Download an ISO image of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation DVD. Alternatively, if you have the DVD on physical media, you can create an image of an ISO with the following command on a Linux system:

dd if=/dev/dvd of=/path_to_image/name_of_image.iso

where dvd is your DVD drive device name, name_of_image is the name you give to the resulting ISO image file, and path_to_image is the path to the location on your system where you want to store the image.

2. Copy and paste the ISO image onto the system hard drive or a USB drive.

3. Use a SHA256 checksum program to verify that the ISO image that you copied is intact. Many SHA256 checksum programs are available for various operating systems. On a Linux system, run:

$ sha256sum /path_to_image/name_of_image.iso

where name_of_image is the name of the ISO image file. The SHA256 checksum program displays a string of 64 characters called a hash. Compare this hash to the hash displayed for this particular image on the Downloads page in the Red Hat Customer Portal. The two hashes should be identical.

4. Specify the HDD installation source on the kernel command line before starting the installation:

inst.repo=hd:<device>:/path_to_image/name_of_image.iso

For information about managing disk partitions, see Getting started with partitions.

For information about various installation source boot options, see Installation source boot options

To download the ISO image and compare hash with the Red Hat image, refer to Downloading a RHEL installation ISO

For information about specifying installation sources, see Specify the installation source

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PART II. INSTALLING RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX ON AMD64, INTEL 64, AND 64-BIT ARM

This section describes how to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on AMD64, Intel 64, and 64-bit ARM systems, using the graphical user interface. The section also provides the following information:

Instructions for customizing your installation settings Instructions for completing your post-installation tasks

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CHAPTER 6. RECOMMENDED STEPS

Preparing for your RHEL installation consists of the following steps:

Steps

1. Review and determine the installation method.

2. Check system requirements.

3. Review the installation boot media options.

4. Download the required installation ISO image.

5. Create a bootable installation medium.

6. Prepare the installation source*

*Only required for the Boot ISO (minimal install) image if you are not using the Content Delivery Network (CDN) to download the required software packages.

CHAPTER 6. RECOMMENDED STEPS

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CHAPTER 7. BOOTING THE INSTALLATION

After you have created bootable media you are ready to boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation.

7.1. BOOT MENU

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot menu is displayed using GRand Unified Bootloader version 2 (GRUB2) when your system has completed loading the boot media.

Figure 7.1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot menu

The boot menu provides several options in addition to launching the installation program. If you do not make a selection within 60 seconds, the default boot option (highlighted in white) is run. To select a different option, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to make your selection and press the Enter key.

You can customize boot options for a particular menu entry:

On BIOS-based systems: Press the Tab key and add custom boot options to the command line. You can also access the boot: prompt by pressing the Esc key but no required boot options are preset. In this scenario, you must always specify the Linux option before using any other boot options.

On UEFI-based systems: Press the e key and add custom boot options to the command line.

When ready press Ctrl+X to boot the modified option.

Table 7.1. Boot menu options

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Boot menu option Description

Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Use this option to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux using the graphical installation program. For more information, see Chapter 8, Installing RHEL using an ISO image from the Customer Portal

Test this media & install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Use this option to check the integrity of the installation media. For more information, see Section F.4, “Verifying boot media”

Troubleshooting > Use this option to resolve various installation issues.

Press Enter to display its contents.

Table 7.2. Troubleshooting options

Troubleshooting option Description

Troubleshooting > Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 in basic graphics mode

Use this option to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux in graphical mode even if the installation program is unable to load the correct driver for your video card.

If your screen is distorted when using the Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 option, restart your system and use this option. For more information, see Section F.7, “Display settings and device drivers”

Troubleshooting > Rescue a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system

Use this option to repair any issues that prevent you from booting. For more information, see

Section G.10, “Using rescue mode”

Troubleshooting > Run a memory test Use this option to run a memory test on your system.

Press Enter to display its contents. For more information, see see Section F.3, “Detecting memory faults using the Memtest86 application”

Troubleshooting > Boot from local drive Use this option to boot the system from the first installed disk. If you booted this disk accidentally, use this option to boot from the hard disk immediately without starting the installation program.

7.2. TYPES OF BOOT OPTIONS

There are two types of boot options; those with an equals "=" sign, and those without an equals "=" sign.

Boot options are appended to the boot command line and multiple options must be separated by a single space. Boot options that are specific to the installation program always start with inst.

Options with an equals "=" sign

CHAPTER 7. BOOTING THE INSTALLATION

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Options without an equals "=" sign

This boot option does not accept any values or parameters. For example, the rd.live.check option forces the installation program to verify the installation media before starting the installation. If this boot option is present, the verification is performed; if the boot option is not present, the verification is skipped.

7.3. EDITING BOOT OPTIONS

This section contains information about the different ways that you can edit boot options from the boot menu. The boot menu opens after you boot the installation media.

Editing the boot: prompt in BIOS

When using the boot: prompt, the first option must always specify the installation program image file that you want to load. In most cases, you can specify the image using the keyword. You can specify additional options according to your requirements.

Prerequisites

You have created bootable installation media (USB, CD or DVD).

You have booted the installation from the media, and the installation boot menu is open.

Procedure

1. With the boot menu open, press the Esc key on your keyboard.

2. The boot: prompt is now accessible.

3. Press the Tab key on your keyboard to display the help commands.

4. Press the Enter key on your keyboard to start the installation with your options. To return from the boot: prompt to the boot menu, restart the system and boot from the installation media again.

NOTE

The boot: prompt also accepts dracut kernel options. A list of options is available in the dracut.cmdline(7) man page.

Editing the > prompt

You can use the > prompt to edit predefined boot options. For example, select Test this media and install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 from the boot menu to display a full set of options.

NOTE

This procedure is for BIOS-based AMD64 and Intel 64 systems.

Prerequisites

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Procedure

1. From the boot menu, select an option and press the Tab key on your keyboard. The > prompt is accessible and displays the available options.

2. Append the options that you require to the > prompt.

3. Press the Enter key on your keyboard to start the installation.

4. Press the Esc key on your keyboard to cancel editing and return to the boot menu.

Editing the GRUB2 menu

The GRUB2 menu is available on UEFI-based AMD64, Intel 64, and 64-bit ARM systems.

Prerequisites

Procedure

1. From the boot menu window, select the required option and press the e key on your keyboard.

2. Move the cursor to the kernel command line. On UEFI systems, the kernel command line starts with linuxefi.

3. Move the cursor to the end of the linuxefi kernel command line.

4. Edit the parameters as required. For example, to configure one or more network interfaces, add the ip= parameter at the end of the linuxefi kernel command line, followed by the required value.

5. When you finish editing, press Ctrl+X on your keyboard to start the installation using the specified options.

7.4. BOOTING THE INSTALLATION FROM A USB, CD, OR DVD

Follow the steps in this procedure to boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation using a USB, CD, or DVD. The following steps are generic. Consult your hardware manufacturer’s documentation for specific instructions.

Prerequisite

You have created bootable installation media (USB, CD or DVD). See Creating a bootable DVD or CD for more information.

Procedure

1. Power off the system to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

2. Disconnect any drives from the system.

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5. Power off the system but do not remove the boot media.

6. Power on the system.

NOTE

You might need to press a specific key or combination of keys to boot from the media or configure the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) of your system to boot from the media. For more information, see the documentation that came with your system.

7. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot window opens and displays information about a variety of available boot options.

8. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the boot option that you require, and press Enter to select the boot option. The Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux window opens and you can install Red Hat Enterprise Linux using the graphical user interface.

NOTE

The installation program automatically begins if no action is performed in the boot window within 60 seconds.

9. Optionally, edit the available boot options:

a. UEFI-based systems: Press E to enter edit mode. Change the predefined command line to add or remove boot options. Press Enter to confirm your choice.

b. BIOS-based systems: Press the Tab key on your keyboard to enter edit mode. Change the predefined command line to add or remove boot options. Press Enter to confirm your choice.

Additional Resources

For more information about installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux using the Graphical User Interface, see Chapter 10, Customizing your installation.

For more information about the list of available boot options you can use on the boot command line, see Appendix C, Boot options reference.

7.5. BOOTING THE INSTALLATION FROM A NETWORK USING PXE

When installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on a large number of systems simultaneously, the best

approach is to boot from a PXE server and install from a source in a shared network location. Follow the steps in this procedure to boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation from a network using PXE.

NOTE

To boot the installation process from a network using PXE, you must use a physical network connection, for example, Ethernet. You cannot boot the installation process with a wireless connection.

Prerequisites

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You have configured a TFTP server, and there is a network interface in your system that supports PXE. See Additional resources for more information.

You have configured your system to boot from the network interface. This option is in the BIOS, and can be labeled Network Boot or Boot Services.

You have verified that the BIOS is configured to boot from the specified network interface.

Some BIOS systems specify the network interface as a possible boot device, but do not support the PXE standard. See your hardware’s documentation for more information. When you have properly enabled PXE booting, the system can boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program without any other media.

Procedure

1. Verify that the network cable is attached. The link indicator light on the network socket should be lit, even if the computer is not switched on.

2. Switch on the system.

Depending on your hardware, some network setup and diagnostic information can be displayed before your system connects to a PXE server. When connected, a menu is displayed according to the PXE server configuration.

3. Press the number key that corresponds to the option that you require.

NOTE

In some instances, boot options are not displayed. If this occurs, press the Enter key on your keyboard or wait until the boot window opens.

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot window opens and displays information about a variety of available boot options.

4. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the boot option that you require, and press Enter to select the boot option. The Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux window opens and you can install Red Hat Enterprise Linux using the graphical user interface.

NOTE

The installation program automatically begins if no action is performed in the boot window within 60 seconds.

5. Optionally, edit the available boot options:

a. UEFI-based systems: Press E to enter edit mode. Change the predefined command line to add or remove boot options. Press Enter to confirm your choice.

b. BIOS-based systems: Press the Tab key on your keyboard to enter edit mode. Change the predefined command line to add or remove boot options. Press Enter to confirm your choice.

Additional Resources

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For information about how to prepare to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux from the network using PXE, see the Performing an advanced RHEL installation document.

For more information about the list of available boot options you can use on the boot command line, see Appendix C, Boot options reference.

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CHAPTER 8. INSTALLING RHEL USING AN ISO IMAGE FROM THE CUSTOMER PORTAL

Use this procedure to install RHEL using a DVD ISO image that you downloaded from the Customer Portal. The steps provide instructions to follow the RHEL Installation Program.

WARNING

When performing a GUI installation using the DVD ISO image file, a race condition in the installer can sometimes prevent the installation from proceeding until you register the system using the Connect to Red Hat feature. For more information, see BZ#1823578 in the Known Issues section of the RHEL Release Notes document.

Prerequisites

You have downloaded the DVD ISO image file from the Customer Portal. See Chapter 3, Downloading a RHEL installation ISO image for more information.

You have created bootable installation media. See Creating a bootable DVD or CD for more information.

You have booted the installation program and the boot menu is displayed. See Chapter 7, Booting the installation for more information.

Procedure

1. From the boot menu, select Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, and press Enter on your keyboard.

2. In the Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 window, select your language and location, and click Continue. The Installation Summary window opens and displays the default values for each setting.

3. Select System > Installation Destination, and in the Local Standard Disks pane, select the target disk and then click Done. The default settings are selected for the storage configuration.

For more information about customizing the storage settings, see Section 10.4, “Configuring software options”, Section 10.5, “Configuring storage devices”, Section 10.6, “Configuring manual partitioning”.

4. Select System > Network & Host Name. The Network and Hostname window opens.

5. In the Network and Hostname window, toggle the Ethernet switch to ON, and then click Done.

The installer connects to an available network and configures the devices available on the network. If required, from the list of networks available, you can choose a desired network and configure the devices that are available on that network. For more information about

configuring a network or network devices, see Section 10.3.4, “Configuring network and host name options”.



CHAPTER 8. INSTALLING RHEL USING AN ISO IMAGE FROM THE CUSTOMER PORTAL

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Performing a standard RHEL installation

Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 using the graphical user interface

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Performing a standard RHEL installation

Abstract

Table of Contents

MAKING OPEN SOURCE MORE INCLUSIVE

PROVIDING FEEDBACK ON RED HAT DOCUMENTATION

PART I. PREPARING FOR YOUR RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX INSTALLATION

CHAPTER 1. SUPPORTED RHEL ARCHITECTURES AND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

1.1. SUPPORTED ARCHITECTURES

1.2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

CHAPTER 2. RHEL INSTALLATION METHODS

CHAPTER 3. DOWNLOADING A RHEL INSTALLATION ISO IMAGE

3.1. TYPES OF INSTALLATION ISO IMAGES

3.2. DOWNLOADING AN ISO IMAGE FROM THE CUSTOMER PORTAL

3.3. DOWNLOADING AN ISO IMAGE USING CURL



CHAPTER 4. CREATING A BOOTABLE INSTALLATION MEDIUM FOR RHEL

4.1. INSTALLATION BOOT MEDIA OPTIONS

4.2. CREATING A BOOTABLE DVD OR CD

4.3. CREATING A BOOTABLE USB DEVICE ON LINUX



4.4. CREATING A BOOTABLE USB DEVICE ON WINDOWS

4.5. CREATING A BOOTABLE USB DEVICE ON MAC OS X

CHAPTER 5. PREPARING AN INSTALLATION SOURCE

5.1. TYPES OF INSTALLATION SOURCE



5.2. SPECIFY THE INSTALLATION SOURCE

5.3. PORTS FOR NETWORK-BASED INSTALLATION

5.4. CREATING AN INSTALLATION SOURCE ON AN NFS SERVER

5.5. CREATING AN INSTALLATION SOURCE USING HTTP OR HTTPS



5.6. CREATING AN INSTALLATION SOURCE USING FTP



5.7. PREPARING A HARD DRIVE AS AN INSTALLATION SOURCE

PART II. INSTALLING RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX ON AMD64, INTEL 64, AND 64-BIT ARM

CHAPTER 6. RECOMMENDED STEPS

CHAPTER 7. BOOTING THE INSTALLATION

7.1. BOOT MENU

7.2. TYPES OF BOOT OPTIONS

7.3. EDITING BOOT OPTIONS

7.4. BOOTING THE INSTALLATION FROM A USB, CD, OR DVD

7.5. BOOTING THE INSTALLATION FROM A NETWORK USING PXE

CHAPTER 8. INSTALLING RHEL USING AN ISO IMAGE FROM THE CUSTOMER PORTAL

